This invention relates to the area of internet based commerce. Specifically, this invention enables a method and system for automatically filling in and submitting forms presented by vendor sites in order to effect commercial transactions on the web.
The process of interacting with the web through a browser may be broadly conceptualized as two types of interactions. The first kind of interaction is based on a user finding information and collating it without subsequent interaction with the provider of the information. This is similar to reading a magazine or researching a library. The second kind of interaction is based upon a user requesting goods or services from the provider of the information on the web. Electronic commerce is based upon the confluence of both these activities.
From a user's perspective, the web is useful largely because of the ease at which it makes information available and the diversity of information it provides. Problems arise when the information is scattered in many places and not readily accessible or not easily searchable. The following issues impede the efficient use of data by users of the world wide web: (a) different data representations, (b) different vocabularies, (c) different levels of functionality (d) multiple locations, and (e) absence from the web.
In a co-owned, co-pending U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,258, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Structuring the Querying and Interpretation of Semistructured Information," Ashish Gupta, et. al. introduced Virtual Database Management System ("VDBMS") technology in which structure is added to semi-structured data, thereby making the data searchable using known techniques. Further, VDBMS technology enables data from multiple sites to be integrated together and made searchable via a common mechanism. This technology is applicable to non-web sources such as legacy data sources in Relational Database Management Systems ("RDBMS"), text files, feeds in systems like SII, word and other text processor documents, UNIX file systems, and so forth. The technology's broad applicability in integrating a multiplicity of sources has been proven in the market in publicly available services.
The flow of information from the user to providers of data is as important as the flow of information from providers to the user. The bidirectional exchange of data forms the basis of commerce in traditional media and online. For example, a purchase involves information flow from the store to the buyer, in the display of goods available, and from the buyer to the store, in that information is a credit card number or a check or cash to complete the transaction.
Currently, internet purchasers must visit multiple web sites in order to consummate a transaction. For example, a user desiring to purchase a book entitled "World Peace," and a CD-ROM entitled "Unplugged", desires to make these purchases efficiently and to get the best prices for these items. The user must visit many different vendors to determine who sells the items, select a particular vendor for each item based on separately visiting the vendors, fill in multiple forms for the different vendors, each of which requires the user to enter the same information and finally track multiple transactions.
Using the search methods described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,258, the user can find the best price for any item available from many vendors. The user is able to seamlessly query multiple different vendor data to make a decision, simplifying the decision process. However, purchasing the items still requires that the user interact with multiple web site "shopping carts," and fill in the required information multiple times. For example, the user must give her name, address, credit card number and click the "Buy it" button for each of the vendors and deal with their order entry forms.
What is needed is a method to enable a user shopping for items from different vendors' Web sites to automatically fill in order forms and then to purchase these items without having to browse and interact with different sites.